use strict; use warnings; use Data::Diver qw( Dive ); use Data::Dumper; my %h; # The exists function will autovivify intermediate keys print "Testing with exists\n"; printf "key1 %s exist\n", exists $h{key1} ? 'does' : 'does not'; printf "key1-key2 %s exist\n", exists $h{key1}{key2} ? 'does' : 'does not'; printf "key1 %s exist\n", exists $h{key1} ? 'does' : 'does not'; print Dumper( \%h ); # Data::Diver's Dive will not autovivify intermediate keys print "\nTesting with Data::Diver\n"; my @values = Dive ( \%h, 'key3', 'key4' ); printf "key3-key4 %s exist\n", @values ? 'does' : 'does not'; print Dumper( \%h ); #### Testing with exists key1 does not exist key1-key2 does not exist key1 does exist $VAR1 = { 'key1' => {} }; Testing with Data::Diver key3-key4 does not exist $VAR1 = { 'key1' => {} };